If gay marriage, why not polygamy? (This is not what you think.)

Let me start by saying that I completely support the legalization of gay marriage. I don't think that the government should be allowed to determine who a consenting adult marries. Based on this logic, though, what exactly would be wrong with polygamy; assuming all parties involved in the marriage consent? When I bring this up, most people don't seem to follow. "Well, then what do you think the next thing will be - animals getting married!?" No - animals are not human and cannot consent to marriage. This opinion of mine isn't exactly cemented in stone, so can anybody convince me otherwise? Why do you believe that gay marriage should be ok, but polygamy not ok? Do you think that legalization of gay marriage will open up a path to polygamy? Why or why not?

reply to post by Herman


well...define polygamy

traditional polygamy involves a man marrying multiple women.
now with gay marriage they'd be allowed to marry multiple men as well
would women be allowed to have multiple husbands/wives as well?

now imagine the headache that would cause...especially in a society where we have drive through marriages

i think monogamous marriage is simply less messy than polygamy.

By polygamy, I did mean one human being marrying multiple other human beings, regardless of gender. I understand there's a difference in terms, but I simply didn't bother looking them up. Sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

I understand your point about it being less messy, but I can't really see people being very happy that the reason they're denied marriage rights is because it's messy. It's funny - you can almost see the new, hip, tolerant young generation of today becoming the "It's just wrong!" generation of tomorrow. That's usually the type of response I get when I ask a proponent of gay marriage about polygamy; "This is where I draw the line."

reply to post by Herman


i never said it's wrong, i just think that polygamous marriage is just messy. i can see your point, but it's quite the complex issue.

Hi Herman, I've wondered about this, too. I believe that any consenting adult should be able to marry whoever they want and that it shouldn't be restricted to just two people. Why should the govt care who and how many people I marry? They shouldn't be legislating morals, I think that's wrong.
And why shouldn't everyone be able to marry the person(s) of their choice? It's discrimination against those who think outside the box. If some people think its immoral, they don't have to marry a same sex person (or whatever). They can just stick to woman/man monogamous marriage. Why should they be bothered by what other people do?

Sorry for double post, it was unintended.

[edit on 11/2/08 by forestlady]

reply to post by Herman


To be honest, legalizing gay marriage WOULD lead to polygamy, and then to chaos, so i do not support gay marriage.
with polygamy, it usually means a guy with multiple wives. However, with gay marriage legalized, you could have a man married to multiple men, or with numerous wives and husbands. Logically, with the ability to be married to more than one person, this man's wife could (in theory) be that woman's wife, and that man's wife as well. Things would get so confused and ensnarled, we would be unable to sort ANYTHING out. As it is, kids coming from broken or homosexual homes already have severe psychological problems, so imagine what a society like this would become.

It would destroy the concept of family, which, whether you like family or not, is the basic building block of society.

We would have a lust based, rape driven anarchy to live in.